Sunday, November 3, 2013

When we visit Vegas we like to have a variety of restaurants to try. While I was researching where to eat during our recent three day stay in Las Vegas, I had written down about six places and realized that I had not put a burger place down on our list. This needed to be remedied. I did a quick search of best burgers in Vegas, and one place kept coming up. That place was Holsteins.

Holsteins is located at the Cosmopolitan, a hotel that we had yet to visit. Pulling into the underground parking structure, I was immediately impressed. They had lights above the parking spots, that showed whether a space was occupied or not, as indicated by a red or green light. This really eliminated the need for driving around aimlessly. A really great innovation that I wish more parking structures would employ. Just like the parking structure, the Cosmopolitan itself really grabbed my attention as well. I really liked the hip vibe of the place. The music, the decor and the eclectic shopping area really contributed to an upper class, but not too snooty atmosphere here.

Holsteins is located on the second level of the shopping area. You can't miss it, there is a large cow in the front window, and the bovine motif continues throughout the restaurants interior. We were here for lunch, and they definitely did a pretty good lunch business. The restaurant was nearly full, with a younger than average crowd. The young, good looking staff were high energy, without being annoying.

Holsteins comes to us from Billy Richardson and Chef Anthony Meidenbauer of Block 16 Hospitality. Their other restaurants include; Urth, The Barrymore, Pink's, LBS, and Public House. We have not been to any of these, but if all went well here, maybe some of those could get added to our list on our next visit to town. The emphasis at Holsteins is creating a burger, and other American favorites, using fresh, natural, and organic ingredients. The menu is of course dominated by burgers, but they do have a good amount of appetizers, shakes, and other sandwiches, if you do not wish to partake in a burger. After a long while of perusing the menu, we finally came to a few decisions. This is what we came up with.

Just like the county fair, Holsteins offers a Country Fried Bacon ($13.00). I ordered this, and then was informed by Katie, that she was only going to have a few bites. So it was up to me and my arteries to finish up this plate. The bacon was buttermilk fried, and served with a smoked BBQ ranch. Surprisingly, the outside of the bacon lacked any real grease, which I was expecting. This did taste just like it sounded though. The first few bites were really good, but then it just became too much. This is an appetizer to get when you have a group, and you can all take little bites of it. The BBQ ranch was okay, I think I would have liked to have had just a regular ranch dressing with this. I was thankful for the little side of shredded cabbage that came with this, as it helped breakup the overwhelming bacon overload that I was experiencing.

Holsteins is known for their boozy ice cream shakes, but as it was still before noon, we settled on having one of their regular Chocolate Shakes ($8.00). This was a better than average shake. The chocolate flavor was spot on, and the shake was blended very smooth. There was too much fresh whipped cream for my taste though. I'm really looking forward to coming here again and tying maybe their Grasshopper or Creme Brulee Shakes.

Katie had no trouble picking out what kind of burger to get here, when she selected the Fun-Ghi Burger ($18.50 with the onion rings). This burger came with a beef patty, a truffle marinated portabella mushroom, caramelized onion, Gruyere cheese, and frisee, which I have learned is a variety of endive. Katie really enjoyed this burger, and I enjoyed the few bites I had as well. The beef and mushroom provided a nice meatiness, the onions came with a slight sweetness, and the frisee added a little crunch. The buns here are pretty good as well. The stood up to the contents of the burger, while remaining soft. We also found the Thick Cut Onion Rings to be pretty solid as well. The breading was a little on the thicker side, but remained with the onion the whole time. The onion rings were fried nicely, without having residual grease. One of the better onions rings we have had recently.

When I was doing research on best burgers in Las Vegas, this Rising Sun Burger ($18.00 with fried egg added), was almost always mentioned. This Asian inspired burger came with a teriyaki glaze, nori furikake, crispy yam, spicy mayo, and a tempura avocado. The waiter told me this was made even better with a fried egg, which I added as well. This was a very hard to eat burger. It was difficult to get all of the components together in one bite. The teriyaki really overpowered this burger. I thought the tempura avocado would have been a great idea, but it kind of fell flat. The beef was very good on its own, and again the bun stood up to the insides of the burger. I should have gone with my usual go to burger when trying a new place, a regular old bacon cheeseburger. The fries here were very good. I was pretty full by the time I got around to eating them, but it was hard to stop inhaling them once I started. Some good fries here.

I really liked our trip to Holsteins. I know that I probably ordered the wrong burger, and I would definitely give them another try. The shake, side items, and Katie's burger really insured that we would come back here on our next visit to Vegas. I really liked the energy of the place, and the coolness of the Cosmopolitan. The service we received on this afternoon was pretty good. We never had to worry about our drinks being refilled, or hunting down our waiter. Not so sure that this is Las Vegas' best burger, but it might be somewhere on this menu. Can't wait to come back to town and continue the hunt.

Out of five milk bottles, (because the Holstein cows are the highest producing dairy animals), five being best to zero being worst, Holsteins Shakes and Buns gets 3 milk bottles.